Seeking a Seamless Garment

“. . . so that they may take hold of the life that is really life.”  1 Timothy 6:19

In the early years of my pastoral ministry I was drawn to the theological concept of the “seamless garment.”  The idea is to approach life with an ethic that is logical across a whole range of issues.  For instance, if one takes the stand for pacifism, arguing that life is precious and thus war is to be opposed at all costs, then one should logically be opposed to abortion because human life is hallowed even in utero.  Such logic leads to extraordinary measures taken to preserve the life of the seriously ill, even if such preservation leads to prolonged suffering.  It follows also that one would also be in opposition to the death penalty because life is of such intrinsic value that Christians must defend and preserve the life even of those who have committed heinous crimes.  Preserving life becomes the highest ideal.  

The seamless garment is attractive because of its inherent logic and simplicity.  If life is the ultimate value, then the complexity of decision-making is removed.  God created life.  Only God can take life.  Life is to be protected. Period. 

Against this ethic stands the weight and experience of human history.  

Wars are fought and justified, even by Christians.  Abortion is made available as an option.  The hospice movement provides alternatives to life at all costs with the implication that death may not be the worst thing that may happen to a person who is aged, infirm, or suffering.  And the death penalty is upheld in many states as a reasonable punishment for certain crimes.  Obviously, society has reasoned that sometimes individual lives can be sacrificed for a supposed greater good.

The seamless garment argument assumes the ideal - what life should be (will be) in the kingdom of God.  If the world is what God created it to be, then there will be no war, no unwanted babies, or accidental pregnancies, no disease or suffering, no murder or violence.  The seamless garment argument presupposes a return to Eden’s innocence and tranquility.  What the seamless garment naively fails to reckon with is the unfortunate and inevitable reality of sin.

Sin is at the heart of our human predicament.  While God created all life and called it good, there is in the human heart a tendency toward selfishness, even toward evil.  This proclivity toward sin by necessity calls for the need for law to create limits on evil.  

There is also a harshness to the logic of the seamless garment that refuses to acknowledge human frailty - a frailty that leads us toward errors in judgment and sometimes costly mistakes.  The vulnerability of human beings calls for a response of mercy from followers of Jesus.

The necessity of both law and mercy in the human community introduces complexity into the ethical issues we face requiring a certain amount of Christian humility - a humility that the seamless garment fails to recognize.

War is evil indeed, but could the world ignore Hitler’s regime without allowing a greater evil?  Abortion is a horrible choice, but is it fair to criminalize pregnant women while men bear no cost, no responsibility, no fault?  Euthanasia seems like a morbid and terrible act, yet do we value length of life at the expense of life’s quality?  The death penalty seems just - “an eye for an eye” - and yet it is meted out disproportionally to people of color, and even sometimes to those who are later proved innocent.  

Clearly, society has often decided that some lives are worth sacrificing for the overall good, but where and when do we draw the line regarding how many lives, or whose lives?  The seamless garment removes such a question from consideration.  How appealing it is not think about the complexities of law and mercy.  But when life confronts life, when sin must be reckoned with, simple answers are not sufficient.  Sin must be met with law to maintain order.  But the law must be seasoned with mercy lest it become another means of death-dealing.  The interplay of law and mercy cannot be simplified.  Until the kingdom of God becomes real on earth as it is in heaven, we must struggle to find a way that honors life without making of it an idol.  

Perhaps life is not the ultimate good.  Perhaps the ultimate good is love.  What would love call forth from us in the face of sin?  How does love mediate law’s demands?  How might love help us navigate the complex decisions that must be made in the dialog between justice and mercy? Even these questions lead to complicated answers, but arguably more fruitful ones for the common good.       

The First Letter to Timothy includes a rather cryptic reference to “life that is really life,” without defining what “real life,” is.  The implication is that Christians are called to something more than mere existence, that there is a quality of living above and beyond the ordinary.  In context, the reference refers to living with a spirit of humble generosity toward others (verses 17-18).  One might call this love.  A generosity of spirit which shapes how we view war.  A generosity of spirit that tempers the conversation between pro-life and pro-choice factions.  A generosity of spirit that affects our approach to end-of-life decisions.  A generosity of spirit which informs our attitudes toward crime and punishment.  What the logic of the seamless garment lacks is this spirit of humble generosity.  I wonder if the best we can hope for is to stitch together a patchwork quilt of our best intentions, guided by the willingness to love and be loved - to offer the same generosity of spirit toward others that we hope would be shown to us.  As some have previously said, “Be kind, most people are having a hard time."